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All my thoughts, my heart and my mind, Wander to where my beloved is. They go on their way despite wall and gate, No bolt, no ditch can stop them, Go high in the air like little birds, Needing no bridge over water or chasm, They find the town and they find the house, Find her window among all the others, And knock and call: ‘Open up, let us in, We come from your sweetheart who sends his love.’

This song, and the two that follow, is from Schlichte Weisen Op 21, composed in 1889 to verses by Felix Dahn. Dahn was a poet-historian with a professorship at Munich University, and Schlichte Weisen (‘Simple ditties’) was the title of a collection of forty poems which Dahn derived ingeniously from a list of first words of ancient folk songs which he had discovered in a museum. Not knowing how the originals had gone on, he amused himself by inventing his own continuations.

Strauss’s setting of All’ mein Gedanken converts a conventional idea into a miniature of exquisite charm. The voice part’s skipping rhythm (held up only for a moment to dwell on the word ‘Liebste’) perfectly captures the eager flight of the poet’s thoughts, tiny piano chords dislocating the rhythm as they halt and knock at his sweetheart’s window. Nothing is overstated, and it is left to the piano’s postlude, echoing the long melisma on ‘grüßen’, to suggest the smile with which the little visitors will be received.

All my thoughts, my heart and my mind Wander to where my loved one is. They speed on their way through wall and gate, Delayed by no bolt and no moat; They speed like birds high up in the sky, Needing no bridge over stream or ravine. They find the town and they find the house, Pick out from all the others her window.

Knocking and calling: Open up, let us in, From your lover we come To greet you right well.

You, my heart’s coronet … you are of pure gold, When others stand beside you, you are more lovely still. Others love to appear clever, you are so gentle and quiet; That every heart delights in you, is your fortune not your will.

Others seek love and favours with a thousand false words, You, without artifice of mind or eye, are esteemed in every place, You are like the rose in the forest, knowing nothing of its flowers, Yet rejoicing the heart of every passer-by.

This beautiful love-song is developed from the contrast between its two opening phrases, the first relatively simple with a lovely turn on the word ‘Herzens’, the second a broad arpeggio from top G flat on ‘du’ to low D flat on the second syllable of ‘Golde’. No fewer than four times is the word ‘du’ highlighted in this way, as the sweetheart’s virtues are compared with the faults of all other women, characterized by a kind of chattering parlando. In the final verse Strauss contrives an extraordinary hush at the words ‘Du bist als wie die Ros’ im Wald’, a chromatic left hand for the walking steps of the passer-by, and a two-bar postlude that deftly combines both opening figures, as if to put his final seal on the song’s message.

Ah, my love, I must now leave … go over hill and dale, The alders and willows join together in weeping So often they saw us stroll together by the brook, To see one without the other passes their understanding. The alders and willows weep tears of grief, Just think of the heartfelt sorrow we must both suffer.

It is hard to think of a more touching song of farewell than this, combining as it does wistfulness, pathos, sorrow and resignation in equal measures. Framed by the piano’s heartfelt prelude and postlude, the lover’s sad lament evolves almost entirely from the dying fall of his opening phrase. Throughout, voice and piano walk hand-in-hand until the very last line, when after a stab of pain on ‘beiden’ the singer’s line is momentarily broken (by tears?), leaving it to the piano to carry the melody beneath the words ‘erst … muß …’.

Ah, unhappy man that I am to have neither property nor money, Else I’d harness four white horses and drive to you at a canter. I’d deck them out with little bells for you to hear from afar, I’d place a huge bouquet of roses on my left side, And when I reached your little house, I’d crack my whip, You’d lean out of the window and ask: ‘What do you want? Why the huge bouquet of roses, why the carriage and horses?’ ‘It’s you I want’, I’d cry, ‘come down!’ And there would be no more questions ‘Take one look at her, mother, father, and kiss her quickly goodbye, For I can’t wait long, my horses wouldn’t allow it.’

English: Richard Stokes

This, the fourth of the Dahn settings known as Schlichte Weisen, is one of Strauss’s freshest and most endearing character studies, from the sharp dissonance of the opening ‘Ach weh’ to the wry shrug of the ending. The whole fantasy scenario is imagined in minute and charming detail—the infectious trotting of coach-and-four, complete with harness-bells and whip, the girl peeping out from her little window, the parents’ departing kiss. With perfect timing, the piano’s opening gesture returns to break the spell.

Women are often devout and quiet, when we rage without control, And when a woman needs strength, she looks silently toward heaven. Their power and strength are slight, a breath of wind can break them, Yet it’s a special sign of strength, when they look up to heaven.

I have often looked up also, when my mother looked up to heaven,I only saw grey clouds scudding and blue sky above,But she, when she looked down again, was filled with strength and hope,I think that women, now and then, can still see heaven open wide.

English: Richard Stokes

As mentioned with Barkarole, Strauss often seems to favour a quiet envoi at the end of a group, and Die Frauen sind oft fromm und still, the last of Op 21, is another example. The piano’s opening chords already draw our gaze upwards—as indeed do those of the postlude—towards the heaven that, according to the poem, it is women’s special gift to perceive. The tone throughout is reflective, wondering, with harmonies generally avoiding root position—the song ends on a suspended 6–4 chord in A major. This is another song of great tenderness that deserves more frequent hearing.